I spent most of July in Newfoundland Salmon fishing. It was a magical time filled with family and friends and doing the thing I’ve loved since being a boy… fly fishing…
I met Bill in Appleton near noon and he had the boat loaded and ready to go. With much anticipation we pushed off and slid under the train trestle as we headed down river. It was a beautiful trip down The Gander River and we took our time as we took in the sights, sounds and smells. We finally made it to 4th Pond and made our way to Tony’s cabin to put the gear away. We had a quick bite to eat and headed to Petries for a flick. It was still early in the season so we didn’t have high expectations but it was just nice to be on the river.
There was a large beaver house at Petries and while we were walking on the shore we noticed a large tree that was mostly cut thru… I guess the beaver is waiting for the wind to knock it down. Funny that a beaver would cut down such a large tree but I guess Mr. Beaver has his plans for that one… No luck at Petries so we headed over to Back Angle for a flick. Still no luck so we headed back for the night dreaming of the big ones that didn’t want our fly.
Next morning we got up and headed up to Petries again. A small run of salmon came thru around 11am and we managed a few hook ups! It was fun and we felt much better to have the monkey off our backs. We noticed that the tree had toppled during the night. It fell directly towards the river and was lying partially in the river. That beaver sure knew what he was doing…
My cousin, Tony, and his partner, Gloria, came down to visit us for a night. They have a beautiful spot here on The Gander River and were thinking of renting it out during the summer, along with their other rental properties, but since Uncle Bill loves the river so much, have decided to let Bill use it as much as he wants to this summer. What a gift!
Tony is a drone enthusiast and I gave him a demo of the Phantom 4 Pro and flew up behind his cabin and around the river to give him a demo of what it could do. He flew it for a while and was so excited about how easy it is to fly and the quality of the video that by the end of the day his final words were “Ken, I’m having one of those…”! Turned out that a couple of weeks later when I saw him and Gloria at the cabin, sure enough he had a brand new Phantom 4 pro which Gloria bought him… Ha! He was in his glee… God love her…
Next day Uncle Maurice came down to join us and we had a great couple of days fishing and chatting. It was great to spend some quality time in with my two uncles. This is what it’s all about…
After the weekend was over we headed back up to Appleton and I spent the next few days with Deb’s family in Glenwood. Debbie’s father and uncles have a long running tradition of camping in tents for a few weeks every summer at Petries. They’ve been doing this for over 20 years and are well known down the river. I volunteered to bring the river boat down the river this year for them as the river can be very tricky and they haven’t done it for years. Deb’s uncle Bill decided to join me for the voyage and we loaded the boat at the lagoon in Glenwood and cast off. Gene and Joe, Deb’s father and uncle, are going to drive down in vehicle and we’ll meet them down at 4th Pond.
The trip went well as we navigated thru the Salmon Brook Rattles, S-Bend, Little Chute and then Big Chute and I was feeling like I finally had things mastered. I relaxed a little, exhaled a deep breath and looked around at the beauty of The Mighty Gander River. We lazily steamed down to Long Rattle and when I got half way down the rattle I notice that I hadn’t been paying attention, was too far down and didn’t turn to cut across the rapids soon enough and a big bar of rocks was looming close. I turned the boat and went heavy on the throttle and almost cleared the last rock of the rock bar when clunk, splash and I turned around to see the motor cover floating a few feet behind us. We continued down river and by the time we had turned around and went back to where the motor last was spotted… we noticed it was quickly sinking. So too did the feeling in the pit of my stomach as I watched it slip below the surface. Groan. We were in about 11 feet of black swirling water and there was no sign of the cowling anywhere… We gave up after 10 minutes of searching and continue on down river, hoodless…
We fished for a while at Petries and I went down to pick up Gene and Joe at the landing. We enjoyed a few days fishing and relaxing. The sun was hot and the days were long and we enjoy the company of several friends who would stop in from time to time for a visit. At one point a group of about 8 of us even tried to set up a tent which we had no luck with (but there were lot’s of laughs – at one point it was upside down, inside out and backwards)… In the end we left it on the ground in a pile and lovingly referred to it as our “work of art”, thinking it looked much like other works of art in ancient galleries of Rome or Paris.
After a few lazy day of fishing at Petries I was talking to a few friends who were planning on coming down to stay at a friend’s cabin down at the bottom of 4th Pond. I went down and joined them for a few nights and we did a bit of fishing on 4th Pond Bar. It was great seeing them again and catching up on things.
After a few days Debbie joined me and we spent the day in the sun fishing and relaxing. It was nice to spend some time down on the river together where we initially fell in love. And to top it off… I got a nice one to bring home for the BBQ.
